Page 42 - Will Smith: A Biography of a Rapper Turned Movie Star

Will Smith
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Jones knew that the NBC television network was
looking for a family-oriented comedy to put on its
Monday night schedule. For Jones and Medina, the next
step was to take their idea to NBC, where they met with
two executives, Brandon Tartikoff andWarren Littlefield.
Jones and Medina had to convince Tartikoff and
Littlefield that their programwould attract many viewers.
The meeting was a success: Tartikoff and Littlefield
loved the idea.
At the time, Smith and Townes were traveling around
the country on a concert tour. It was at a concert
performance in 1989 that Smith met someone special. The
setting was San Diego State University in California, and a
young woman in the audience caught Smith’s eye. After
Smith and Townes’s set was finished, Will approached her.
Tanya Moore was a senior majoring in business at the
university. Though they had just met, he told her she was
the girl of his dreams. They began dating, and Smith was
delighted with how well they got along. “What’s good
about Tanya,” said Smith, “is that she thinks like a guy, so I
don’t miss my buddies. It’s like, I can’t relate to somebody
crying because she broke a fingernail.”2
Meanwhile, Jones and Medina were trying to persuade
NBC that Will Smith was the right person for their new
show. That was not so easy. The final say would be in the
hands of Tartikoff, who was the head of NBC’s entertainment
division. After viewing some of Smith’s music videos,
Tartikoff was not convinced.